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The country's previous leader has been handed capital punishment for atrocities stemming from her harsh response on student-led protests which led to her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against demonstrators, with approximately 1,400 individuals died during the unrest last year.

Legal proceedings were conducted in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being responsible for multiple fatalities during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

The decision signifies a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Next of kin of victims and wounded had called for severe punishments.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, she expressed the capital punishment was the temporary leadership's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a political force and that she was content of her government's record on human rights.

"I have no trepidation to confront those accusing me in a just legal forum where the facts can be assessed and reviewed impartially."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under tightened security prior to the decision on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics organizing a demonstration and celebrating as the sentence was declared.

The capital witnessed a notable rise in turmoil, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the period preceding the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, area law enforcement officer the authorities' representative stated to press agencies.

The student-led uprising during 2024 began with requests to remove government job quotas but evolved into a more extensive dissent initiative.

International human rights monitors declared in an analysis in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could constitute "crimes against humanity".

The paper detailed the gunfire from minimal distance of certain demonstrators, the deliberate maiming of additional individuals, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Disclosed sound files of a call made by the former leader verified by media examinations in previous months implied she had authorized the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the trial.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those fatally injured in the unrest told news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

Ramjan Ali, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and abused their power".

Lucky Akther, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "executed before the election".

"Solely at that point the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will achieve closure in their minds."

Following her removal, an interim government led by economic expert Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A parliamentary election is set for February 2026.

However, the Awami League, Hasina's political party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

She alerted in the previous month that if the the League's representatives were banned from standing in the imminent electoral process, countless would abstain the ballot.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. Dhaka has formally requested her return but so far India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer her legal counsel said he was "sad [and wishes] the decision had been otherwise".

"I am unable to challenge because my represented individuals are away; that's why I am sad," he stated further.

The previous week, the defense attorneys said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN raising major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

Hasina was tried together with her former home minister and security forces head.

Even though the verdict provides certain resolution to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may not significantly ease the state's ideological splits.

"The fury directed at Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not subsided," a Dhaka-based rights activist informed news organizations. "Both she and the organization has expressed regret or demonstrated contrition for the killings of hundreds of people."

The advocate declared "This complicates matters for the party to be accepted by a majority of people in this nation."

The campaigner further stated that the punishment was not finality for the kin of those killed and injured.

"We support several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, as a result of the harsh measures. They will never be able to forgive her."

A journalist, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it even more difficult" for her party to become a regular participant of the country's governance system again.

This might transform if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the old leadership," he said.